West could never have released this audio, because it would have been a continuation of the “threatening” position he’s occupied in their narrative – something Swift referenced in her statement about the phone call on Instagram.In the same statement, she asked to be “excluded from the narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of since 2009.” Doing so harkened back to the moment she and West first met, at the MTV VMAs, where a young Swift clutched her award as West stormed the stage, took the microphone from her, and announced that Beyoncé should’ve won instead. There’s a lot of people in America that feel like they don’t have a platform to stand up and express their closet racism.”He went on to suggest that the MTV judging panel gave Swift the award in a bid to fill the gap left by young white popstar Britney Spears in the wake of her breakdown, adding that he felt the need to “get drunk” in order to cope with “all the lies” in the ceremony.

It definitely got her a lot of attention last time.”As soon as the episode had aired, Kardashian took to Snapchat and posted 22 consecutive clips without context or captions.West made a public apology to Swift, and later said he wasn’t suggesting that she was undeserving – but was speaking out against systemic racism in the music industry, which consistently favours white artists. The dominant reaction, however, was a reflection of what the world has been conditioned to see: the “threat” of an “angry" black man terrorising the “innocent" white woman.Even their clothes reflected the racially fuelled victim/villain framework that would define the incident: The image of West, wearing dark shades and an entirely black outfit, accosting sweet Swift in her white and silver party dress, remains an iconic one. Public opinion spiralled so drastically that even the president branded him a “jackass”.Swift, on the other hand, was able to capitalise on the stereotype of the “angry black man”, an archetype that has been described as a “figment of the white imagination”, used to incarcerate and oppress black men. The incident may not have made her famous, as the lyrics in “Famous” claim, but it certainly catapulted her into the mainstream consciousness.Despite saying she wants to be “excluded from the narrative”, Swift has reminded the public of this same narrative countless times in jokes and speeches.